The present technology relates to a manufacturing apparatus, a manufacturing method, an optical element, a display device, and an electronic apparatus. More particularly, the present technology relates to a manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus suitable for manufacturing spacers of a liquid crystal layer included in, for example, a liquid crystal lens and expected to have a large height. The present technology also relates to an optical element, a display device, and an electronic apparatus including the manufactured spacers.
Liquid crystal display devices are widely used in various fields since they can be formed to have a small thickness. An example of a liquid crystal display device includes a TFT substrate on which pixel electrodes and thin-film transistors (TFT) are arranged in a matrix, and a color filter substrate on which a color filter is formed in an area corresponding to the pixel electrodes and which faces the TFT substrate. Liquid crystal is held between the TFT substrate and the color filter substrate. An image is formed by controlling the light transmittance of the liquid crystal material for each pixel.
The TFT substrate includes data lines that extend in a vertical direction and are arranged in a horizontal direction and scanning lines that extend in the horizontal direction and are arranged in the vertical direction. The pixels are formed in the areas surrounded by the data lines and scanning lines. Each pixel mainly includes a pixel electrode and a thin-film transistor (TFT), which is a switching element. A display area is formed of many pixels that are arranged in a matrix.
Liquid crystal lenses in which a liquid crystal layer is caused to serve as a lens by utilizing the characteristics of the liquid crystal material have been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-9370, No. 2007-226231, and No. 2008-83366). Specifically, a lens controls paths of light rays incident thereon at different positions by utilizing the difference in refractive index between the material of the lens and the air. When different voltages are applied to the liquid crystal layer at different positions so that the liquid crystal layer is driven by different electric fields at different positions, light rays that are incident on the liquid crystal layer at different positions cause different phase changes. As a result, similar to the lens, the liquid crystal layer is capable of controlling the paths of the light rays incident thereon.
It has been proposed that stereoscopic vision without the use of dedicated glasses can be realized by arranging the liquid crystal lens on the above-described display area in which the liquid crystal is held.